A non-woven fabric or fibrous web obtained from a needle loom and constituting a starting material for the practice of this invention will remain comparatively fluffy, even if the fibers comprising such web were absolutely perfectly randomly oriented, as is evident from the fact that, when using 100 percent of synthetic fiber of circular cross section in such a web, the resulting product is a web containing more than 50 percent, by volume of air, for example, according to some measurements, about 53 percent. A comparison of such a prior art web with natural leather, which, depending on the tanning and treatment methods used, may contain from 85 to 96 percent by volume of fibrous material, shows that the prior art non-woven web is quite airy and consequently has modest strength properties. A closer scrutiny of natural leather reveals that the fibers therein are not circular, but are rather of such various random surface configurations that they tightly engage one with another and bond together, principally by the friction therebetween, to form a supple and soft leather. This very observation constitutes the basis of the practice according to the present invention.